The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.96

v2.c17.s1.96

To the right of this there is a medium-sized temple of the usual make, with a corresponding Mohan, both built of grey sandstone, and devoid of sculptured ornaments (plate XLVI). Its height is 41 feet, and its angles are so canted as to produce an almost circular ground plan (plate XLVIII). The Mohan is square, and, in the interior, has pilasters for the support of the ceiling, but no sculptures. The *Brahma Purāṇa* assigns to this temple a remote antiquity, and its sanctity is extolled in the highest terms by [93] the *Ekāmra Purāṇa* and the *Kapila Saṃhitā*. Looking to the material and make of the pile, I have no reason to doubt that it is much older than the temple last noticed, and probably older than the Great Tower itself, being of the same age with the temples of Bhāskareśvara and Koṭitīrtheśvara; but that would only carry it to the middle of the 6th century, earlier than which it cannot be. There is an inscription in it on the righ jamb of the doorway, but it is in so smudgy a state that I could not read more than a few words of it. The letters are cut into the stone of the wall, and not into a separate slab, and are of a modern type, probably not older than the twelfth century. It was evidently recorded long after the erection of the temple.